In our earlier blog entry on Who will be Hardest Hit by 3.5% Interest Rate, we identified the homeowners most likely to be affected by the interest rate uncertainty brought on by the possible removal or reduction of the United States Federal Reserve Quantitative Easing measures. Since then, there has been a succession of other events and [...]

We wrote about the recent property loan regulations announced by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in our article on 2nd July. We also posited that the introduction of a mandated 3.5% interest rate for total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) calculation implies an unspoken expectation of an interest rate hike in the short to medium term. As we mentioned [...]

Our recent article (MAS Has Another Go at Property Cooling Measures) has garnered a few comments online that we would like to address. Many of the comments have focused on how these measures will impact the poorer and more marginalised folks, who are barely scraping by with their daily needs and debt repayments. Not a few [...]

While the latest property loan measures announced by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) covered quite a lot of situations and scenarios, one small little 3.5 – in a foot note, no less – caught our attention. We’d like to present our opinion on the implications of this number in this article. What is the significance [...]

The latest financial measure to hit the Singapore property market comes from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the same body that targeted car loans just a few months ago. This time, they are targeting housing loans with a range of refinements and definitions to level the playing field for both banks and buyers. The refinements [...]

The recent record-breaking haze levels have created a new, heightened awareness of the need for clean air in our homes. Indoor air pollution is one of the greatest environmental health risks we experience, so it could be worthwhile to explore this topic further. In this article, we will focus on particulate matter pollution, and tips [...]

Seven cooling measures have come and gone in the Singapore property market, each one more stringent and restrictive than the one before. For a while, the Singapore property market laid low while absorbing the impact of these policies. But propwise had this to say in a recent article: “But the recent flash estimate of the [...]

In our previous article we talked about Permanent Residents (PRs). We delved into the effect that housing policies have on their actions, and consequently what those actions have on the Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale market. One of the comments that we got, and that the authorities often use a well, was that PRs only [...]

We noticed that a recent post on the Straits Times (ST) forum page pointed out a disturbing trend in our housing market. A reader wrote in to say: “While house-hunting in the HDB resale market recently, I came across a number of permanent residents (PRs) who were selling their flats as they were returning to [...]

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